<p>I’m thinking about studying Neuroscience and Theatre, but I really don’t want to stay the extra year. Could I take a summer session or two to avoid the extra year?</p>
<p>@AmbitiousMind07, as long as you can get the course requirements done by taking some over the summer, I don’t see why not. It’ll just require careful course planning on your part.</p>
<p>Also, at chsowlflax17, you don’t have to. A lot of students are either international or from the West Coast(and therefore not flying back for such a short duration). However, campus is a little deserted because those who don’t go home sometimes come up with other plans–like staying with other family nearby, going home with friends, etc. I went and stayed with friends from home who were at Harvard & MIT, for example. But there are ppl around–the only hassle is feeding yourself off meal plan. I think the TWC puts on a little Thanksgiving meal thing too.</p>
<p>Does anyone have the answer to sviola’s questions:</p>
<p>From current students’ point of view, is the “declining balance” account card thing very useful? Should I just get my own debit card, separate from Brown?</p>
<p>What airline do most students prefer? I know that Southwest <em>used to</em> have a college rapid rewards program, but they’re ending it soon (and not accepting new students into the program).</p>
<p>“From current students’ point of view, is the “declining balance” account card thing very useful? Should I just get my own debit card, separate from Brown?”</p>
<p>Errr I’ve never used it. I guess it could be useful, but I’ve never needed it. And yes, definitely, since Brown doesn’t give you a debit card. </p>
<p>“What airline do most students prefer? I know that Southwest <em>used to</em> have a college rapid rewards program, but they’re ending it soon (and not accepting new students into the program).”</p>
<p>I prefer Southwest because it’s almost always the cheapest and has the best customer service. Most of my friends use Southwest, too. Still cheaper even without college rapid rewards program. Don’t take US Airways. They suck.</p>
<p>I don’t know how many West Coast direct flights there are, but I know Southwest has a direct flight from Phoenix to Providence, if that matters. Plus, 2 check-ins are free (nearly every other airline makes oyu pay for check-ins now… Like 15 for the first bag and 30 or so for the 2nd), so it’ll definitely be cheaper for going to Brown to fly Southwest, as I can pack stuff into some decent sized tubs.</p>
<p>My D uses the declining balance stripe to do her laundry in the dorms. I don’t really know what else it is used for. We put $200 on it each year, and as far as I know, she hasn’t used it up.</p>
<p>"My D uses the declining balance stripe to do her laundry in the dorms. I don’t really know what else it is used for. We put $200 on it each year, and as far as I know, she hasn’t used it up. "</p>
<p>You can also use it to buy food and stuff, but that’s redundant of meal plan which I already find to be more than sufficient. $200/yr is actually wow, a lot more than I think one needs for laundry. You’re very generous. For laundry, you can also just put money on directly via these machines we have all around campus. That’s how I do it.</p>
<p>I don’t actually think she uses it all for laundry-- her clothes are never that clean!! I would guess that she also uses it to buy food from time to time…</p>
<p>“I’m thinking about studying Neuroscience and Theatre, but I really don’t want to stay the extra year. Could I take a summer session or two to avoid the extra year?”</p>
<p>The rule about needing to stay 5 years is actually a bit of a misnomer. I’ve talked with Dean Targan (who is in charge of joint ScB and BA programs) about it, and, as long as you can complete all the requirements in 4 years, with or without summer courses (4 summer courses, or 2 summers’ work, equals one semester at Brown), you can do both concentrations in that time. You are permitted 5 years if you need it. If you want two physical degrees, rather than 1 listing both concentrations, however, you need 5 years. I’m majoring in Computer Science-Math (ScB) and Classics (BA), and I’m able to do so in 4 years, though it still requires a large number of courses.</p>
<p>“From current students’ point of view, is the “declining balance” account card thing very useful? Should I just get my own debit card, separate from Brown?”</p>
<p>Your own debit card would be useful for purchases off of Brown campus (and most of the food outside the Ratty and VW is more overpriced than what one can find in nearby stores, albeit not by too much). As far as the declining balance goes, I haven’t used it - each ID card has a vending strip for laundry and a few vending machines. One can transfer money to the strip from a declining balance, but I ended up using only about $90 total this past year, so I didn’t feel it necessary. It’s something where putting too much money becomes problematic if you ever should lose the ID, while at least a debit card has a PIN for safety purposes. I’d stick with putting money onto the vending strip (since you’re limited to no more than $50 at a time there) and refill it with money from a bank account when needed (there are several machines in convenient locations on campus to do so).</p>
<p>Edit: after reading over the web page concerning the declining balance, it appears to be safe even if the card is stolen, as the transferable amount to the vending strip is limited to $20 a day and it cannot be turned into cash.</p>
<p>^Thanks for the info! So, when you say “large number of courses”, I assume that means you have zero room for any electives? I guess it’s something I still have to think more about. (The human bio concentration seems to be pretty similar to neuroscience and it has less requirements, so I can look into that as well.)</p>
<p>I’m taking 5 courses every term (except freshman fall, which is a bad term to take 5, normally), so I get 8 elective courses. However, this is misleading, as 2 are prerequisites for a course I’m using to satisfy my CS concentration. So this essentially means I have 33 courses. From a brief glance at the neuroscience and theatre websites, it appears you’d have somewhere near that number of courses, depending on mathematics, bio, and chemistry placement. So such a concentration is doable, you may use summer courses to assist and add to the number of electives you have, and/or you could take 5 courses some terms. You’ll have options, as well as an adviser and the deans to give you advice. If it helps, particularly in choosing courses for this fall, map out where you want your 4 years to go - which courses you’d take and when. This will almost definitely change as you go along, even for courses used to satisfy the requirements, partly because the times may conflict, partly because your interests may change. Doing this does give you a sense of what you need to do and what questions you need to ask about the programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my questions~ Now, I won’t use the declining balance account, but I’ll keep scavenging for cheap airline deals.</p>
<p>I know most sciences also have an AB program as opposed to SciB. I’m considering doing an AB concentration in computer science… but I don’t know. The advantage is that there are a lot fewer required courses, but I’m not real clear on the disadvantages yet. Other than you learn less in that concentration because you’re taking fewer courses.</p>
<p>“I know most sciences also have an AB program as opposed to SciB. I’m considering doing an AB concentration in computer science… but I don’t know. The advantage is that there are a lot fewer required courses, but I’m not real clear on the disadvantages yet. Other than you learn less in that concentration because you’re taking fewer courses.”</p>
<p>You might want to ask around to be sure, but I’ve noticed a few job listings here and there posted on the bulletin board of the CIT and most have the Comp Sci ScB as a requirement. That might be a disadvantage. But check with someone who actually does CS before taking my word on it.</p>
<p>I’m doing an ScB program related to computer science for job purposes - in looking around for internships at home, everything I’ve found has required you be working towards an ScB in CS or a related field. One thing to consider is that a computer science degree at, say Princeton, is the equivalent coursewise to an ScB at Brown - the lower level courses common to both get you a good footing in the general theory, but in an AB, one will end up only focusing on 1 type of computer science at the advanced level (say by taking Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, and Computational Linguistics), while in an ScB, you’ll get at least 2 different types. It’s not like an AB is useless - Brown computer science is strong and you’ll learn a lot either way, but if you’re set on using it or going to grad school, an ScB (or equivalent) may be helpful right out of college. Another option, however, is to take more advanced courses but still get an AB - the degree is different, but you don’t have a thesis/reasearch/project requirement like you do for the ScB, if you’re not interested in doing this.</p>
<p>I think the biggest disadvantage to doing an ScB is the number of courses it requires (thus limiting somewhat your electives). And you may decide after CS51 (which involves Turing machines and concepts such as NP-Completeness, as I understand) that you really don’t want to get an ScB. So you have time to decide.</p>
<p>The AB has no disadvantage in most fields when applying for grad school, so long as you’ve organized electives in such a way that they show advanced work.</p>
<p>If you want to work in your field right out of college, the Sc.B. is often advantageous.</p>
<p>I was wondering if the textbook used for the Bio 0200 class is </p>
<p>Biological Science with MasteringBiology™ (3rd Edition)
ISBN: 0132249855 </p>
<p>Does anyone know since I would really like to purchase it but the description is very vague on Mocha.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Is it possible to get from Gerard House to Barus and Holly in 10 minutes (for classes)?</p>
<p>mom58-- yes, but it’s very tough and if one class ends even a little late you’re going to be rushing. I tried it one shopping period and while it was totally manageable in September, I felt in the winter, and when people would be asking questions after class or class would run a few minutes late, it just wouldn’t work well. I’d avoid it if possible.</p>